Blueprint at One Year - Our Impact
30 Jan 2023
We are one-year into our five-year Blueprint programme and we are so impressed with the progress our participants have made so far. Blueprint is a cutting-edge financial growth programme, which supports a network of cultural organisations in Northern Ireland, to take a more long-term approach to income generation and to ultimately find the route to greater financial security and artistic freedom.
Phase two of the programme has begun, with our first round of investment grants due to be announced soon. But before we launch into the exciting news ahead, we wanted to reflect back on where it all started and what we have achieved so far.
5 YEARS OF RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Blueprint was 5 years in the making. The programme is informed by research reports commissioned by A&B NI which highlighted the financial fragility of the arts and culture sector and the external factors affecting this such as short-term funding cycles, decreasing public funding and reduced staff numbers. The findings of these reports were the catalyst for the development of A&B NI’s trail-blazing Blueprint programme, which aims to deliver a robust and meaningful blueprint for change for the NI arts sector.
The programme funding was raised from a cohort of public and private funders, who were brought together by Arts & Business NI to support the trialling of this new creative model, which aims to build financial sustainability and ultimately a stronger arts sector.
Read the research: Socially Investing in The Arts (2016)
Read the research: Pathway to Blueprint & A Blueprint for the Future
A NETWORK OF ARTS ORGANISATIONS
Blueprint kicked off in January 2022 with 30 arts organisations from across Northern Ireland, taking part in the first phase. Participants were equipped with training and mentoring which aimed to lay the foundations for building-long term financial strength.
After the initial six months, 17 Arts Organisations then progressed to Phase 2 of Blueprint, which will unlock access to investment grants of up to £45,000 over the next two years and a development programme which sits alongside the grants, which focuses on building sustainability across all elements of the organisation.
The organisations involved also benefit from the peer-learning network, the opportunity to talk openly and share their knowledge has a real highlight of the programme so far.
The organisations taking part in Blueprint Phase 2 are...
Andersonstown Traditional & Contemporary Music School, Belfast Exposed, Belfast Photo Festival, The Duncairn Arts Centre, Fighting Words NI, Golden Thread Gallery, HOUSEHOLD, In Your Space Circus, Kids In Control, Maiden Voyage Dance, Replay Theatre Company, Seacourt Print Workshop, Terra Nova Productions, Theatre and Dance NI, University of Atypical, Vault Artist Studios, Young At Art
ACCREDITED TRAINING
The cutting-edge training and mentoring which under pins the Blueprint model which makes this programme so special. Organisations are given the opportunity to develop themselves and their organisations through training workshops and mentoring on topics such as business models, creative resilience, governance and effective boards, financial knowledge, capacity building and development.
Organisations are also given the opportunity to gain an accreditation in Level 5 ILM in Coaching and Mentoring, this will equip a wide range of people in the sector with accredited skills which will enable them to provide the support they have themselves had the benefit of receiving through the programme.
WHAT THEY SAID
In just one year, the programme is already making an impact across the cultural sector in NI, but don’t just take our word for it, here is what some of our participants had to say…
‘I’m a young person in the early stages of my career. Being able to learn from such an experienced cohort was a great opportunity. Having the budget to take a step back to think, develop, and train was also very useful.’
‘Blueprint has given me the confidence to interrogate our previous strategy and rework it based on my experience within the organisation and the learnings from our team, and from Blueprint.’
‘We have torn-up our strategy and have a new dynamic strategy. We have introduced a full-cost recovery approach to future projects. It is a sea-change with a level of risk.’
‘Blueprint has helped our company understand what we need to do to move forward. The mentoring opened up conversations that we long needed to have. We identified problems and found solutions.’
‘Incredible opportunity to connect with the wider sector, and to learn from each other. Taking the time to work on the organisation, rather than in it, has had huge benefits on our likelihood of achieving long-term sustainability.’
BLUEPRINT: WHAT’S NEXT?
We will have exciting news ahead, as we will soon be announcing investment grants which sit alongside our development programme, which participants can use on projects and programmes which will help make their organisations stronger in a way which is unique to them. For some this will be increasing organisational capacity through staff or resources, developing a product, or growing an existing area of work.
It's our ambition that Blueprint will have a positive impact across the NI arts sector that reaches beyond the organisations currently taking part. Through the programme, we aim to demonstrate the long-term transformational change, the Blueprint approach can bring, to shake-up the arts funding ecology in Northern Ireland. By supporting and developing individual mentoring and coaching skills, taking an organisational level approach, the development of both a funder’s forum and a stakeholder’s forum and the creation of a strong peer network; A&BNI believe that the learning and impact from Blueprint will stretch right across the sector.
We are looking forward to seeing the programme progress over the next four years and can’t wait to share the results.
With thanks to our funders...
Our Funders & Partners
Arts & Business NI is generously supported by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
